When a sexy, bad-boy hockey player sets his sights on you, it's gonna get real good!

Okay, I'll admit it, I have a crazy, lust-infused crush. Brick, the sexy right-winger of the Orlando Vipers, is the star of all my fantasies. Just a glimpse of him has me panting. So when the chance to actually work with this hot hockey player comes along, of course I say yes!

Being a world-class athlete myself, I have a strategic plan to have him all tied up with lust and desperate for me, too. The thing is, plans never go smoothly. Especially when my heart pedals right into the vulnerable game of love again--completely unprotected.

Luckily this sinfully delicious superstar is just as hooked on me, and despite my tactical errors, Brick catches me when I fall, holds me when I cry and pleases me when I need it most. He's hard on the outside, soft on the inside, and plays one hell of determined game.*The entire HOT ICE series is available on Kindle Unlimited. All novels fine as standalone reads.*

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Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Lily Harlem lives in the UK with a workaholic hunk and a crazy cat. With a desk overlooking rolling hills her over active imagination has been allowed to run wild and free and she revels in using the written word as an outlet for her creativity. Lily s stories are made up of colourful characters exploring their sexuality and sensuality in a safe, consensual way. With the bedroom door left wide open the reader can hang on for the ride and Lily hopes by reading sensual romance people will be brave enough to try something new themselves after all, life s too short to be anything other than fully satisfied.

Top customer reviews

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Oh the mental games these characters play with each other. Truly great writing and character development in this book. The author has a gift for bringing the characters to life. Hot and steamy and a piercing, what?

First of all, I don't like books that are written in first person, and all of Ms. Harlem's books that I have read so far are in first person. I'm trying not to hold that against her. I know it takes certain finesse to pull off a first person narrative, but it takes equal finesse to mix it up a bit too. Having said that, this book satisfied my cravings: Hot hockey guy. 'Nuff said. It was a good book. Sex was hot. Guy was hot. Hot, hot, hot. Very quick read also.

I enjoyed Hired, the first book in the Hot Ice series by Lily Harlem and was looking forward to the next books to discover more about the other Orlando Vipers hockey players and how they would find love. Cross-Checked is Brick's story. We already got a glimpse of Brick in Hired and despite him being kind of an arrogant jerk there I suspected he had more to him and I had a soft spot for the young but warm-hearted and funny charmer even back then, so I was curious and excited to finally read his story.

Cross-Checked is narrated by the heroine, a respective athlete: Olympic medalist cyclist Carly. Carly has had a crush on Brick for a long time, she is obsessed with him and has an elaborate plan on how to seduce him and keep his interest hooked for longer than a quick tumble into bed. She wants Brick for more than the simple rink bunnies do. But when nothing goes according to her plan and Brick acts nothing like she expected she feels her control on the plan and his seduction slipping.

I dare every warm blooded woman not to melt when reading about Brick's courting of Carly:

"I'll take you home." He grinned. "I'm going that way.""But you don't even know where I live." I tugged my wrist from his grip even though having him touch me sent waves of delight over my skin. He shrugged. "Wherever you live, I was going that way."

Despite being a huge and muscle solid man Brick has a very open and generous heart. He is playful and flirty, but underneath that easygoing charmer is a man who has depth and hidden vulnerabilities. When he spoke of his deceased father and how much he still misses him even though he hasn't lost him recently, it made me tear up and squeezed my heart. It was surprising and sobering to see the flirty playboy become instantly intense and one could not mistake his seriousness as to his relationship with Carly.

"You're not a game to me," he said quietly. "When I said you were all I could think about, that you were the star of all my fantasies, I was being honest. When I thought I was coming to the hospital to identify a body and help your parents organize a funeral my world ended." His lips squeezed together and he dragged in a deep breath. "I have never, ever in all my life wanted anything as much as I wanted you to be all right, not even last year, when I really wanted to lift the Stanley Cup." He swallowed.

"If I hand myself over to you, Carly," he said, softening his voice, "then you need to be there for me, don't you get it, you've become my weakness. I'm a big, strong guy but if anything happened to you it would destroy me."

I found Carly's internal monologues a bit too sappy and her self-doubt and lack of confidence in herself and in Brick irritating, I often would have liked to shake Carly a few times to finally realize what a good man Brick was and not to miss out on her chance to be happy with him. It was nice to have a story where it was the hero who was sure of his feelings and set on the course to take their relationship further.

Verdict: Just like Hired, Cross-Checked is rather a sensual romance than erotica due to the well developed storyline, characters and emotional journey of the characters taking the main stage instead of the physical scenes.

I have to say I liked Cross-Checked even better than Hired, it was wonderfully hot and heart-warming. I love how 3D Lily Harlem makes her characters, they feel like real people and not just cardboard props in a story. A great story and series I would recommend!

Plot: 9/10Characters: 8/10Writing: 8/10Ending: 9/10Cover: 6/10 - the male model looks like a great Brick, but sadly the woman is so tramp-looking, not like Carly the athlete :-/

Cross-Checked is the second book in the Hot Ice series. I started this one immediately after finishing book one, as I was already hooked. This book deals with Brick, another of the Orlando Vipers hockey team and Carly, an Olympic athlete. They meet as they're volunteering for some charity work, and we quickly learn that Carly has had a crush on Brick for some time. She's surprised to learn that he knows who she is, and that he's interested in her.

Resisting his charms, Carly's determined to keep him at arm's length until she's sure he's not just after a quick fling. However, it's not easy to keep Brick away, he's sexy and persistent, and before long the two of them have given into their passions. What follows is a really fun romp with some kink, some laughs (of the good kind!), and a healthy dollop of romance. I was totally engaged with this novel from beginning to end, I just couldn't stop reading. I loved the characters, their chemistry and their adventures, and as with the last book, this one made me immediately want to read the next one.

Overall, another brilliantly written erotic romance from Lily Harlem, one that I can heartily recommended.